PETA Masterclass
Hey everyone!
I hope everyone's doing good, I haven't posted recently because I've been so busy with assignments and doing overtime at work! I have two more deadlines left and then I am free till my next term.. wish me luck 😬.
So what's new.. I booked a holiday to Magaluf in May! How crazy of me. I'm so excited and have been going to the gym as much as I can. Oh and I'm finally settling in and starting to become more confident and independent in my new job at Primark in Bluewater, which I really enjoy.
In addition to new, I have an industry mentor as part of my degree, and I found out that I have the Global Leader of E-commerce for M&S (clothing & home) which I'm buzzing about!
So I just wanted to write about my experience on the Masterclass with the European Media & Projects Coordinator of PETA, Sascha Camilli, at uni today.
(Photo taken from @FRALondon Twitter Account)
As you may know, FRA offers some really good opportunities when it comes to masterclasses and talks from industry, last year we had the CEO of ASOS have a masterclass with us. We are also currently completing an assignment set by QVC and in my Level 4 fashion retail course we visited the Head Office of Zalando and Lesara (You can read more about this in my Berlin 2017 post) and also completed a project for Lesara also to present.
Monday night I had an email from my Marketing tutor, letting us know there was a masterclass going on on Friday (today) and that everyone is welcome but it would be more beneficial for second years (I'm still a first year). As soon as I noticed it was for PETA I was already intrigued as I've seen their marketing techniques on social media and wanted to see what they had to say about the fashion industry as a whole, and first hand see what they was all about considering the Internet is very controversial about PETA, and some individuals wish their campaigns wasn't so intense.
The information given was really beneficial and interesting, I managed to get a good 3 pages of notes out of it for future assignments and for this post. Some of the photographs and videos shown were rather upsetting to see.
Angora rabbits are used for their soft fur, in China we was told they physically ripped the hair out of the rabbits alive. We was told because rabbits are prey animals they are very scared generally. Therefore when normally picked up they usually are scared and when they are then being treated the way they are, they can have several heart attacks on the table and some die due to this. It is reported over 300 brands have band using Angora fur.
Down comes from Geese and Ducks, they are often kept in small cages and are 'live-plucked' to gain their down. Now I saw the pictures of this and it was so sad, they looked all sore and some were actually bleeding. Imagine someone coming up to you and plucking out all of your hairs!
The North Face are an example of a retailer who uses synthetic down called ThermoBall rather than using down from Geese and Ducks.
(Taken from PETA presentation based on Vegan Fashion)
The exotic skin market is still big also. Many are killed in the wild, but many are taken out of the wild and killed also. Brands such as Adidas and Puma have band using exotic skins, and Prada has worked with PETA and has promised to not market their exotic bags but to promote their vegan ones instead. India has banned the import of exotic skins.
Here is the video we was shown during our presentation.
There was an Ostrich investigation and a popular designer who was using Ostrich skin was Prada, and the dots on the skin are actually where the feather follicles were.
Many consumers aren't aware that the popular brand Canada goose actually uses real Coyote fur in their coats.
PETA works closely with students, including Parsons School of Design, a top fashion university in America, who are also completely fur free. There is also a board they have, where students can be representatives for PETA, I think it would be really interesting to see if someone was to take this on at FRA and see how it goes, but I'm not sure if anyone will!
Overall, I feel like using fur for the right reasons is okay, if you are in Antartica and really need to wear animal fur to survive, then I believe that that is okay. We don't need to harm animals for fur in the modern world. Every type of animal coating can be mimicked by other materials, like reptile prints and faux fur. You can still keep up with the latest trends without putting animals through pain and miserable deaths. I'm sure you wouldn't want that for your cat or dog? But that's just my opinion based on the facts I gained from PETA and my eternal love for animals.
I really hope this post has given you a better insight on PETA as an organisation, and more of an insight in fur and exotic skin fashion.
I hope to be posting more frequently over the next few weeks after I have completed my final two assignments of this term.
Byeeeeee !
M x
29.03.2019
I hope everyone's doing good, I haven't posted recently because I've been so busy with assignments and doing overtime at work! I have two more deadlines left and then I am free till my next term.. wish me luck 😬.
So what's new.. I booked a holiday to Magaluf in May! How crazy of me. I'm so excited and have been going to the gym as much as I can. Oh and I'm finally settling in and starting to become more confident and independent in my new job at Primark in Bluewater, which I really enjoy.
In addition to new, I have an industry mentor as part of my degree, and I found out that I have the Global Leader of E-commerce for M&S (clothing & home) which I'm buzzing about!
So I just wanted to write about my experience on the Masterclass with the European Media & Projects Coordinator of PETA, Sascha Camilli, at uni today.
(Photo taken from @FRALondon Twitter Account)
As you may know, FRA offers some really good opportunities when it comes to masterclasses and talks from industry, last year we had the CEO of ASOS have a masterclass with us. We are also currently completing an assignment set by QVC and in my Level 4 fashion retail course we visited the Head Office of Zalando and Lesara (You can read more about this in my Berlin 2017 post) and also completed a project for Lesara also to present.
Monday night I had an email from my Marketing tutor, letting us know there was a masterclass going on on Friday (today) and that everyone is welcome but it would be more beneficial for second years (I'm still a first year). As soon as I noticed it was for PETA I was already intrigued as I've seen their marketing techniques on social media and wanted to see what they had to say about the fashion industry as a whole, and first hand see what they was all about considering the Internet is very controversial about PETA, and some individuals wish their campaigns wasn't so intense.
The information given was really beneficial and interesting, I managed to get a good 3 pages of notes out of it for future assignments and for this post. Some of the photographs and videos shown were rather upsetting to see.
Angora rabbits are used for their soft fur, in China we was told they physically ripped the hair out of the rabbits alive. We was told because rabbits are prey animals they are very scared generally. Therefore when normally picked up they usually are scared and when they are then being treated the way they are, they can have several heart attacks on the table and some die due to this. It is reported over 300 brands have band using Angora fur.
Down comes from Geese and Ducks, they are often kept in small cages and are 'live-plucked' to gain their down. Now I saw the pictures of this and it was so sad, they looked all sore and some were actually bleeding. Imagine someone coming up to you and plucking out all of your hairs!
There is a responsible down standard which should be being upheld however when clothes are imported from China, we may not be live-plucking down in the UK, but we are still contributing to the market when retailers buy product from China."70% of down via Live-Plucking comes from China"
The North Face are an example of a retailer who uses synthetic down called ThermoBall rather than using down from Geese and Ducks.
(Taken from PETA presentation based on Vegan Fashion)
The exotic skin market is still big also. Many are killed in the wild, but many are taken out of the wild and killed also. Brands such as Adidas and Puma have band using exotic skins, and Prada has worked with PETA and has promised to not market their exotic bags but to promote their vegan ones instead. India has banned the import of exotic skins.
There was a social media hashtag called #behindtheleather promoting a really interesting video regarding designer handbags and fashion."90,000 crocodile and alligators are killed in the wild every year, and 200,000 are taken out of the wild to be killed. A crocodile or alligator can survive up to 2 hours during the skinning process and can in many cases still be alive till the very last point of being skinned"
Here is the video we was shown during our presentation.
There was an Ostrich investigation and a popular designer who was using Ostrich skin was Prada, and the dots on the skin are actually where the feather follicles were.
John Galliano was going fur free, half of the fur trade comes from China. PETA has created a fur donation programme, where fur which has been donated to PETA can be used for good, being given to homeless shelters for example, which is good use out of fur products, which I think is beneficial for the environment and perhaps will make fur lovers less likely to buy fur for fashion in the future."240,000 Ostrich's were killed annually"
It is not only obvious due to the market fur created but we was also told that companies who purchase fur, often purchase it from people who use the cheapest methods to kill the animals, which is usually painful and slow death. Many mammals are trapped in steel draw traps, mainly used in China again however Canada also use these. Animals who get trapped in these usually include Coyotes, Wolves and Possums, this is a very minimal list. Many animals suffer from frostbite, are attacked by predators, and often chew off their own limbs to escape."85% of fur comes from factory farms. 100 million animals are killed worldwide for their fur worldwide."
Many consumers aren't aware that the popular brand Canada goose actually uses real Coyote fur in their coats.
Fur is also biodegradable, which means it rots, pretty fast after the animal is killed. This means that it has to be treated with harsh chemicals to stop the fur from rotting before it reachers its consumer, and while the consumer is wearing it. This means the harsh chemicals would in fact actually harm the consumer, and people who come into contact with the person wearing the fur product.Gucci, Burberry, Michael Kors and Chanel are just some of the designers to go FUR FREE!
PETA works closely with students, including Parsons School of Design, a top fashion university in America, who are also completely fur free. There is also a board they have, where students can be representatives for PETA, I think it would be really interesting to see if someone was to take this on at FRA and see how it goes, but I'm not sure if anyone will!
Overall, I feel like using fur for the right reasons is okay, if you are in Antartica and really need to wear animal fur to survive, then I believe that that is okay. We don't need to harm animals for fur in the modern world. Every type of animal coating can be mimicked by other materials, like reptile prints and faux fur. You can still keep up with the latest trends without putting animals through pain and miserable deaths. I'm sure you wouldn't want that for your cat or dog? But that's just my opinion based on the facts I gained from PETA and my eternal love for animals.
I really hope this post has given you a better insight on PETA as an organisation, and more of an insight in fur and exotic skin fashion.
I hope to be posting more frequently over the next few weeks after I have completed my final two assignments of this term.
Byeeeeee !
M x
29.03.2019
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